Los Angeles Named Most Congested City in the U.S.

The recently released Global Traffic Scorecard from INRIX, a leader in transportation analytics and connected car services, has named Los Angeles as the metropolitan area in the U.S. with the worst traffic congestion.  New York and San Francisco came in second and third on the list respectively.

"A stable U.S. economy, continued urbanization of major cities, and factors such as employment growth and low gas prices have all contributed to increased traffic in 2016," said Bob Pishue, Senior Economist at INRIX.

The company analyzed traffic in 1,064 cities – 240 in the U.S. – across 38 countries, making it the largest study of traffic congestion ever. It also used some new methodology and, based on the findings, the U.S. ranked as the first most congested developed country in the world, with drivers spending an average of 42 hours a year in traffic during peak hours.

According to the study, commuters in LA were found to have spent 104 hours in traffic last year during peak hours - more than any other city in the world. This contributed to congestion that cost Los Angeles drivers $2,408 each, with the city as a whole lost $9.6 billion due to direct and indirect costs. Direct costs relate to the value of fuel and time wasted, while indirect costs refer to freight and business fees from company vehicles idling in traffic. These indirect costs are passed on to households through higher prices.

Both New York and San Francisco, the second- and third-ranked cities in North America with 89 and 83 peak hours spent in congestion respectively, have a similar average congestion rate to Los Angeles, – 13 percent – but they both show strikingly different traffic patterns during various parts of the day.